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Ren is warm.
He wakes by the base of the throne, wrapped in his favorite blanket. He'd been dreaming. Blue. Laughter. Something else. He can't remember. It must've not been important.
He closes his eyes, then snuggles deeper beneath the blanket.
"Are you awake, little bird?"
Master! Ren snaps his eyes open and looks up. Master is looking at him. Ren smiles. He opens his mouth-
Was he supposed to say something? Did Master ask a question? He doesn't remember.
"...Master," he smiles instead. That must've been the correct answer because Master puts one hand in his hair. Ren leans into it. Warm. He likes when Master pets him. It makes him feel treasured. His eyes drift close again. What was he thinking about?
"Stay awake, pet," Master tugs his hair. Not enough to hurt, just enough to raise his head. Ren blinks sleepy eyes open.
"Of course, master"
Anything Master wants. What did Master want again? The hand in his hair feels nice. His eyes starts closing.
He feels something poke at his lips.
"Open," Master says, and Ren opens his mouth obligingly.
Sweet. Fruit. Ren chews and swallows. Something else pokes at him lips. He opens without looking. Another piece of fruit.
What was he doing?
Another poke. Sweet. Fruit. Ren chews and swallows. Tasty.
"Stay awake, pet." Ren opens his eyes.
"Of course, master"
Poke. Sweet. Chew. Swallow. Again. Sweet. Chew. Swallow.
Ren doesn't remember what he was doing. But he feels warm, fuzzy, and cared for.
"...Thank you, Master"
A hand strokes his hair.
"Go back to sleep, pet," Ren happily buries his face into Master's leg and curls the blanket tighter.
Slade looks at the sleepy thing at his foot.
Disgusting.
Utterly useless. He can't even feed himself. Can't stay awake longer than ten minutes.
He sighs. It's his fault. He's the one that turned Dick Grayson into this. The mage promised it would get better. He will regret it if he lied.
This is what he gets for using a short cut.
Ren's haze had become worse.
At first, it was only distracting.
He would drift away halfway through conversations, blinking back to attention the moment Slade said his name. He forgot what he'd been talking about. Asked the same questions twice. Lost the thread of his own thoughts before they reached his lips.
Annoying.
Then came the staring.
Slade would look up from his reports to find Ren exactly where he'd left him, eyes unfocused, looking at nothing. Minutes passed. Then an hour. Ren didn't seem bored. He simply... waited until someone spoke to him again.
Then the sleeping started.
First it was only while kneeling at the throne, soothed by a hand in his hair.
Then while reading.
Then at breakfast, his fork still in his hand.
Then while walking.
Slade found him asleep against walls, on staircases, once standing upright in the hallway with his forehead resting against a pillar.
He woke every time with the same confused smile.
"Sorry, Master."
The forgetting came last.
At first it was little things.
He would walk into a room and stop, unable to remember why he'd gone there. He forgot conversations they'd had an hour before. He forgot whether he'd eaten.
Then he began forgetting while carrying out orders.
...
"Fetch the ledger from the library."
"Of course, Master."
He never returned.
The first time it happened, Slade was furious. Disobedience? An escape attempt? Neither possibility was acceptable.
He found Ren halfway to the library, just standing. The ledger rested in both hands. His brow was furrowed in concentration. When Ren spotted him, his face lit immediately.
"Master!"
Relief flooded his voice, "I forgot what I was doing," he held out the book like an apology.
"I didn't know where to go."
A pause.
"...So I waited for you."
Slade stared. Ren hadn't abandoned the order. He had forgotten everything except the certainty that Master would eventually come find him.
...
Slade should dispose of him. He wanted Dick Grayson. This creature wasn't worth the resources required to keep him alive.
If he doesn't feed him, he simply wont eat. If he doesn't catch him, he'll fall.
A week ago, Slade left for a meeting for a day. He had servants prepare food for Ren. He returned to find Ren sitting exactly where he's left him.
Three plates of food sat in front of him, untouched.
"Pet?"
"Master!"
Ren immediately brightens. He pushes off the chair and runs towards Slade, stopping a respectful distance away. One hand gripped the other like he's trying to stop himself from hugging Slade.
Slade sighed and stepped forward instead, opening one arm in invitation.
Ren immediately runs into him, snuggles close like Slade was the last person in the world.
"Why didn't you eat?"
Ren blinked.
"I forgot"
"Go eat."
He smiles. "Of course!"
He didn't move. A second later,
"Master?"
"Yes?"
"What did you say to do? I forgot. "
...
By his feet, Ren shifts, pressing closer to Slade. He seems to be having a nightmare. Slade sighs and slips a hand in his hair. Immediately, Ren calms, and his lips turn up in a sleepy grin.
Completely and utterly useless.
No.
The bird was his. The haze will fade. He just has to keep him alive until then.
And.
Slade lifts his hand. Unconsciously, Ren lifts his head to chase it. Slade sets his hand back down. Ren pressed closer into the touch, every line of his body relaxing.
Absolute trust.
Strange.
Dick Grayson had once looked at him with nothing but hatred. If Slade tried to touch his hair, he would bite.
Now, even asleep, he reached for Slade without thought.
It stirred the same satisfaction as conquering a kingdom.
Yes.
The bird was his. He just has to keep him alive long enough to become useful again.
Ren is warm.
A hand is in his hair, Master is nearby, he's curled in his favorite blanket. He feels a warm arm reach under him and pull him up.
Ren goes. Wherever Master wants him is where he wants to be.
His head comes to rest against a warm chest, an arm circles his waist to keep him from falling. He can hear Master's heartbeat.
He lets out a content sigh.
There's nowhere else he'd rather be in the world.